In a message dated 5/3/2006 12:43:49 PM Eastern Standard Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

I don't  have an end-date for 
stoneware, but probably by the end of WWI everyone  had converted to glass - 
except for some extruded knock-offs from the  1960s You can always play the 
odds: jugs for the water trade were made by  the millions; those for the gin 
trade, by the tens of thousands. If all  the marks indicate quick and dirty 
mass production, you greatly increase  the odds of having a water jug.

Robert C.  Leavitt


Robert - thanks for an excellent answer. I have one thing to add. These  
bottles are still in use, so there is no end date, and since the tradition is  
continuing I'm not sure its fair to call them "Knock offs." I bought bottles of  
Hoogstratten and St Sebastians beer from Belgium at my local beer store a 
couple  of years ago, and I still see them from time to time... The Hoogstratten 
was a  tall, .75 liter cork seal bottle and the other was more squat, .5  
liter, with a lightning stopper closure. Both are salt glazed with a brown  wash 
exterior. Interior is glazed, but not slipped. And the beer was good too.  Carl 
Steen